like the red queen
by Taylor Jileeve
Summary: a girl is taken from her home to a castle where she must fight to survive


I was prowling the streets of the Manitobian Market Square in search of drunks who might be leaving the bars and liquor stores. Drunks didn't always have the most valuable stuff on them because they spend most of there money on alcohol. But, being a pickpocket, I don't care what they might have on them, they just need to have it.

My parents used to tell me to live a good life and find a normal job, like my perfect sister Ruby. I tried. All the normal stuff just didn't suit me. Usually I would be fired or just quit. Then Ruby would come and tell me that winners never quit and quitters never win. I guess that's true, but I don't care about any of that anymore. I had always been a good pickpocket, and I usually came home with some little stuff worth a decent amount of money. I was lucky that way.

A small group of heavily drunk men stumbled out of an overly popular bar, called The Rainbow. I slid into step with them, quickly sliding my hand in a short, stocky man's pocket. I felt some coins and a few bills. I grabbed the bills not wanting to shake the coins in his pocket. I slid them out with ease. I turned around and headed back to the bar. That man was an easy target, and it only took a matter of seconds to take the money. As I approached the bar I took the newly stolen money and, under the dim light of the only lamp in the bar, I counted my winnings. 20, 40, 60, 80. Wow this guy mustn't have bought that much. Then I pulled the last of his bills out of my pocket. It was a one-hundred dollar bill. I was so happy that I may even have smiled, but I still had three hours of work left so happy time could wait.

The Rainbow was one of the bars that closed at four in the morning and opened at six at night. This was good for me because it meant I could work my magic in the crowded marketplace from eleven in the morning to about five-thirty and then walk to The Rainbow to work until closing time. Then I could take the ten minute walk back home, and sleep for a good six hours, give my parents the money, and go back to work. Repeat that everyday, steal a few small snacks every now and then and you have my life. Though sometimes the king would hold a duel and my best friend, Luke, would always drag me there.

The duels weren't held so we could have a good time watching, but to demonstrate how much stronger the king's guards and armies were then us. The king would put one of his guards in against someone they found on the street with no weapons or escapes for either. The king's guards would maul our people, and I'm surprised they don't just kill them instead. Really the whole point of the duels is to make us respect the king and his guards, as well as making us understand that they will not give any mercy.

I stole some more money and then headed back home. I had given myself a rule: Never steal when on the way home. That was my number two rule, the number one rule was: Don't get caught. I never steal on my way home because taking from one, makes me want more, and that is just a huge chain reaction. And it only happens at around four or five in the morning, right when I'm coming home.

I got home to find everything perfectly normal. The loud snores of my father, my mother's cat settled on the countertop, the rustling figure (that I knew was my sister) in the loft above, my empty loft set on the opposite wall, and a small plate of food set on the dinner table for me. I looked at the food on the table and realised that it was Mom's lasagna. Seeing that Mom made lasagna made me smile, Mom had been mentally off since my last brother left for war.

All four of my brothers have left for war, and only Miles writes home, so we only know that he is still alive. When I was six my brother Jake turned eighteen and he was sent to war, when I was eight, my brother Chris went off to war, when I was ten, my brother Miles went to war, and the one that hurt the most was when I was twelve, that year my favorite brother, Matt, went to war.

Matt was like me in every way, except the fact that he is a man named Matt and I am a girl named Cole. Other than that and our age difference we were basically the same person. We had straight and curly golden blonde hair, hazel-green eyes, strong arms and legs, broad shoulders, and we are both master thieves. He taught me everything he knew about stealing when I turned eleven because he knew that I wasn't going to get a job. Usually you get apprenticed to someone when you are ten years old and it's almost impossible to get a job after that. Ruby got a great job apprenticing one of the kings bakers, she got that job when she was ten, and has had it for the seven year contract, and then went on to be the king's personal baker. Now she is twenty-one, is getting married in a couple months and ready for a great life as one the king respects. She has that perfect life while I am a crazy strong, heartless, unforgiving thief. Not to mention that I am sixteen and going to war in two years.

I ate my dinner and got to bed knowing that there was going to be another hard day ahead of me.

It was a dark, dark day. No one was outside, and everything in the market square was packed away. I was, of course, outside despite the death threats that the king placed on anyone who dared go outside. I knew, along with everyone else, that there was another princess coming to try to win over the prince.

The princesses carriage rode up along the newly paved road nearing the castle with every second that passed. I was lurking in the shadows, the wall pressing hard against my back, the cold from the stone seeping in through the tough leather of my jacket. I shivered, and then against my will I coughed. The guards that were supposed to be making sure that no one was outside, suddenly snapped back to life. They started shouting, but they still didn't know where I was. I took out my dagger, knowing that these guards were ruthless, but I knew that I was ruthless as well.

I started to move away as soundlessly as I could, but a loud screeching noise coming from my direction caught the guards' attention. My gun, I thought realising that my stolen gun was scraping against the wall from it's spot in my boot.

The guards were running at me now, I was no longer hidden. I yanked the gun out of my boot and pointed it at the nearest guard, he was a big man and an easy target, I pulled the trigger and watched the man fall, a small pool of blood forming under his body. I threw my dagger at the second guard watching it sink deep into the man's skull. Two more guards advanced on me before I could either reload my gun or retrieve my dagger, I saw a sword flash and blood spurt out of my chest. Then everything went black. . .

I woke up panting and covered in sweat. It was just a dream. Just a dream. I said to myself. I climbed out of bed and threw on some clean cloths along with my everyday black leather jacket. My family was waiting for me at the table with eggs and bacon on all the plates. I took last night's money and threw it down on the table. I had counted last night and there was three hundred twenty-four dollars.

"Three hundred twenty-four." I said as I sat down. Mom sighed and grabbed the money off the table. She flipped through the bills and smiled.

"Honestly Cole, I don't see the point in all this. I mean, Ruby brings in good money, we can use that." Mom said wearily, she brought up this topic a lot and it always turned into a raging argument.

"Mom, do you really want to have this argument again? I mean it's always the same thing. Stealing is the only thing that I can do right, I'm good at it. Anyway, I'm going to war in a year or two, I'm probably going to die. Have a good day I'm leaving." And with that I grabbed some bacon and left the house making sure to slam the door behind me.

I was walking around in the middle of the crowded marketplace slipping my hands in-and-out of random people's pockets, I already had a good amount on me. Sometimes I just had lucky days. I grabbed my scissors and quickly snipped the bottom off of a tall lady's purse watching all the contents fall into my hands.

I slipped my hand into a tall blonde haired teenaged boys pocket, I was just pulling out the money when he turned around and seized my wrist. I gasped and tried to pull away but his hold on me was too tight. So I grabbed my dagger out from it's spot in my belt and slashed down on his arm, dragging the knife down all the way to the tip of his middle finger. He yelped and loosened his grip on my hand but he was still to strong. The boy had gotten the attention of the guards positioned around the market place, and before I could do anything else the guards had hold of me. I shot a glare at the boy who was now tenderly nursing his arm.

"Explain yourself girl!" One of the guards shouted into my ear. I knew that this was the time to let my lying skills loose, I focused on the boy and willed the fake tears to come to my eyes. Just as I had wanted, the tears came and splashed down the sides of my face.

"I didn't mean to do anything wrong" I said in-between fake sobs. "I was just walking by and he grabbed me. I cut him in self defence." The guard shook his head disapprovingly and started walking me towards one of the Royal Service carriages. To my surprise, the boy followed and started barking orders at the guards, and even more to my surprise, the guards listened.

Me and the boy were sitting in an awkward silence as the carriage drove to the castle. I've never been one for silence, so I decided to be the one to break it.

"So who are are you and why did those guards listen to you so willingly?" I asked. He replied almost immediately.

"I am Prince Ryder Cross. And those guards listened to me so willingly because they are under my command, along with my father and my mother of course." Then he looked at me and continued, "and you are?"

"My name is Cole Granger." I replied quickly.

"Mmm, Granger. Do you have a sister named Ruby?" He asked.

"How do you know my sister?" I asked. Then it hit me, Ruby was working today, and if she found out that I was here, she would tell our parents. "Don't tell her that I'm here!! I can do worse than a scrape on the arm!" I yelled. He chuckled when I said this.

"Well, your little scrape on the arm," He said indicating his arm, "Will not be taken lightly, and since you gave me your last name, my father will find out everything about you. And he certainly will tell your sister." He was now smiling. I couldn't help but notice that his smile made his face seem to light up. He had shaggy golden blonde hair, that was just falling into his blue eyes. He was definitely gorgeous.

"What is your father going to do to me?" I asked.

"Well, like I said, this will not be taken lightly. You may be put in the dungeon, you may be whipped. I don't know."

"Your father is so unfair, we deserve a better king." I muttered under my breath.

"What?"

"I was just saying that your father is unfair."

"And how is that?"

"Have you not noticed? He started a war, and he makes no move to stop it. He just sits on his butt and watches it all go by. Four of my brothers are out there, they might be dead! He holds duels to show that his guards are better than us but it's us that he sends out there. He doesn't care about his own people, so he doesn't deserve his position." I said strongly. The prince looked at me with sorrowful eyes as the carriage pulled up to the castle. He nodded slowly.

"Than I'll try to make it easier on you." He mumbled as we got out and were walked into the castle.

The castle was stunning on the outside, but I was more excited to see the inside. Yes, I was excited, even though I was a prisoner. As the guards marched us - no me, down the hall into a vast open space. The prince led us all. The floors were all marble and the walls were a strange mix of quartz and lime green jade. It was truly beautiful. The prince caught me staring and smiled,

"This is all real minerals. My father had hundreds of men put in endless of hard work to gather it all. Come the courtroom is this way." He said. I glared and then after a moment's hesitation I followed. The courtroom was also fabulous, but one sight made the whole room gloomy and lifeless.

The king.

He sat in his throne in the middle of the far wall up on a platform. The judge's bench and the witness stand were a about ten feet away, made of dull brown wood. To the king's left sat the queen in her high backed throne, to the left of her sat Prince James, Prince Ryder's younger brother. Prince Ryder finished conversing with the king and went to sit on the king's right hand side. Then the judge whacked the gavel down and called the court to silence.

I had been moved down to the defense bench. There was no one defending me but myself. Prince Ryder then got up from his chair and moved to sit on the prosecutor bench, he was followed by several lawyers who all carried large black briefcases. The set their briefcases gown on the table with a Thump. They flipped the locks open and started unpacking. They had tapes from the surveillance cameras, pictures of my hands in his pocket, pictures of my knife slashing his arm, and they had pictures of his arm alone. I knew that they had enough information to prove me guilty. I realised that if I tried to lie again my punishment would just get worse, so I stood up, hung my head and confessed.

"I did it. I tried to steal from him when I didn't know who he was, when he grabbed my wrist I cut him because I was surprised that I got caught. My family is very poor and I steal to try to help them." I didn't need to add the part about my family but I didn't want that question coming up. I sat back down trying to look ashamed. I looked up with pleading eyes to try to soften the king. I don't think it worked. He was slowly nodding, stroking the small beard that he had. Then he looked at me, seriousness written all over his face. I hoped that Prince Ryder had tried to make the punishment less, but I doubted that he did.

"One week in the dungeon, that might fix you." He said, the judge waked the gavel again and then court was over.

The guards hauled me out of the courtroom with brute force. I wasn't fighting them, but they seemed to need to hurt me. They twisted my arms in opposite directions, forced my head down and whipped my back.

They finally got me all the way down. The dungeon was dark, damp, and seemed completely lifeless. Gone were the fancy walls and floors, gone were the pictures and gone was the furniture. In replace for it all was just damp moss and mold covered cobblestone. They threw me into a small cell, all that was in it was a small uncomfortable cot, and some blankets. There was nothing for me to do, nothing at all. They had taken away my weapons and searched through my bag. They left me with nothing but my clothes. I had been laying on that makeshift bed for what felt like hours, when there came muffled voices from outside my cell. I got out of the bed and pressed my ear against the bars, trying to make out what was going on. I couldn't make out who was talking, but I heard some words. There were 'cell' 'why' please' 'orders' king', and 'my father'. Then I heard keys being messed with, and the giant steel door that guarded the dungeon, creaking open.

I took the two steps back to my bed and sat down, trying to think of what else the king might want to do with me. And then the barred door to my cell opened and in stepped Prince Ryder. He looked as magnificent as ever with his blonde hair and blue eyes. I looked at what he was holding and couldn't help but laugh.

"You're carrying a purse!" I exclaimed, still laughing. He looked at me like I was crazy, with his eyes widened in surprise.

"This is not a purse," He said matter-of-factly, "It is a male handbag."

"No, that's a purse. Now what do you want with me?" I said, trying to act serious, although the purse was still inside my head.

"Well, I would like it if you were a little bit nicer to me in saying that I am doing you a very nice deed." He replied. This wasn't a good answer though.

"A good deed, huh?" He nodded. "And what is this deed?"

"Oh, of course!" He said, honestly, if he was ever planning on being king, his memory ought to be a little keener. "I have brought you dinner."

"I thought that this stuff was the only food that I was going to be eating." I said pushing forward the plate of stale white bread and molding cheese.

"Well, you can eat that if you want. But I brought you food from the king's own table, I thought that you be grateful." He said, getting obviously annoyed. He started to turn and walk away, but I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back.

"No thanks, I'll take yours." When I said this, he sighed and sat down. He handed me his bag of food.

"Father says that he might keep you." He said, staring straight forward.

"Yeah? What for?" I asked, curious.

"He says that you might make a good fighter, and that if he decides to keep you, I will be the one to train you. After you serve your time of course." At this I scoffed, Why should it matter to him? I thought, I'm just going to go to war anyway!

"It is a privilege to be able to be trained." He said, making me realise that I spoke outloud.

"Yeah, but it's hard to think like that when you know that it's just a suicide mission." I shot back. He shot me a sideways glance. Then looked away and shook his head.

"Sometimes I don't understand what's going on in life." He said. I laughed because he was starting to sound meaningful. I hate meaningful.

"Now don't turn this conversation meaningful. I'm in no mood for being emotional." He laughed and looked at me.

"I didn't think you knew how to be." He said. Then he got up, grabbed his bag, and left.

The next six days were rough. Prince Ryder decided not to come back, and the food that the guards gave me was absolutely terrible.

When the guards released me, they sent me to a room on the second floor. It was extremely plain, the walls were cream colored, there was nothing on the walls, and the bed was ivory with a white victorian bedside table. There was a big window set on the wall farthest from the door, and a giant walk in closet opposite the bed, and a bathroom next to the closet. I walked into the closet looking for something to change into, but there were only these fancy, formal, dresses and gowns.

"Which would you like to wear to your meeting?" A small high pitched voice said at my shoulder. I looked down to see a woman who was probably in her late thirties. She had brown hair tied in a knot on top of her head and she was wearing a loose black dress that went down to her ankles.

"I'm not gonna wear any of these." I snapped back hastily. "Where's the normal clothes?"

"These are what you will be wearing during your stay here. My name is Sophie, I will be assisting you during your stay." She said.

"Well, if you were going to assist me, then there would be normal clothes here, I'm not going to wear these." I said.

"Fine, then I will chose for you. Go in there and shower. I will get you ready for the meeting."She pointed toward the bathroom. I walked over and stepped inside, slamming the door behind me.


End file.
